Brid Rodgers's husband put his head in his hands when his wife joined the new Northern Ireland Executive. He watched in disbelief from the public gallery at Stormont as she was appointed Agriculture Minister.
She was the last nominee. All the other Cabinet posts were gone. Farming was not her forte. "She wouldn't know the back end of a cow from the front," sniggered a unionist Assembly member.
Ms Rodgers had wanted the education portfolio. She expected she might have to settle for health or the arts. Never agriculture. But not even the DUP, with its strong rural base and the knowledge that the majority of farmers were Protestants, wanted agriculture.
It was regarded as a poisoned chalice. BSE had brought the industry to its knees. Ms Rodgers would have no room for mistakes in her new job. Every week, the native Irish speaker from Co Donegal, would have to face the Agriculture Committee, chaired by Dr Ian Paisley.
But agriculture has been her making. Two new cases of foot-and-mouth - in Ardboe, Co Tyrone, and Cushendall, Co Antrim - were confirmed this week. Around 20,000 sheep and cattle have been culled in the North and a similar number will be slaughtered in coming weeks. The Minister is back working a 16-hour day but is thriving under the pressure.
She has made bold decisions. Against Downing Street's advice, she banned the movement of British livestock into the North. London threatened to overrule her but she stood her ground. Prior to the latest foot-and-mouth outbreaks, she secured the North's exemption from a European ban on UK products.
Her desk is littered with hundreds of letters of thanks for the efforts - and sometimes the small gestures - that she has made. She personally phoned one south Armagh farmer whom she heard was distraught at the loss of his herd of 160 cows.
Unionists have been unhappy about her support for Garvaghy Road residents opposed to Orange marches. But she has fully co-operated with the security forces over foot-and-mouth. She sent the British army into Ardboe to help with the cull. An RUC officer is permanently based at Department of Agriculture headquarters to liaise between officials and police on the ground.
Her management style is strongly consensual. Civil servants can speak their minds and wide consultation precedes every decision. She informs Dr Paisley of major problems or policy changes before going public. By talking to local politicians, she ensured Sinn Fein support for the British army's role in Ardboe.
The Ulster Farmers' Union, made up mainly of big Protestant farmers, is remarkably supportive. She admits to having been on a steep learning curve. For her first month in the job, she did nothing but ask questions. Ms Rodgers is refreshingly open for a politician. Her biggest advantage in dealing with the crisis is that the public trusts her.
The DUP has coined a ditty - "Little Bo Beep has lost her sheep". But while the party makes minor complaints, it does respect her. "She is doing a very difficult job as well as any minister could under the circumstances," says Ian Paisley jnr.
"She is up against smugglers and dodgy farming practices. We're straight in our dealings with her and we have always found her straight in return. My Da might be a bit blunt with her but he's blunt with everybody. He has time for her because, like himself, she has been round a few corners." From the DUP, that is praise indeed.
The Minister has been a regular visitor to Brussels to argue the North's case. Aged 66, her energy levels are remarkable, says an SDLP representative. Ms Rodgers isn't in the slightest annoyed to be told a party colleague described her as "a game oul' bird".
"I am a game oul' bird. I'd never dream of hiding my age. It's men, not women, who worry about those things."
Rising through SDLP ranks was not easy. Ms Rodgers joined the party 30 years ago but, despite holding high office, was effectively marginalised. In 1978, she became the first woman to chair an Irish political party but that did not secure her a place on the SDLP delegation to the Atkins political talks two years later.
Dr Garrett FitzGerald appointed her to the Seanad in 1983 yet the SDLP leadership did not see fit to nominate her to the New Ireland Forum, the precursor to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Even her close friendship with John Hume didn't help. She was called "a wee girl" by some members. But Ms Rodgers stuck it out and the arrival of the Women's Coalition on the political scene in the mid-1990s embarrassed the parties into promoting women. She chaired the SDLP talks team that helped broker the Belfast Agreement.
The SDLP was allocated three ministries in the new Executive. Sources say the Deputy First Minister, Seamus Mallon, wanted South Down MP Eddie McGrady instead of Rodgers, with whom he has little rapport. But Hume prevailed.
Asked about sexism in the SDLP, Ms Rodgers diplomatically says political parties have naturally reflected the attitudes of wider society. While she didn't enter politics as a feminist, "I've become one through experience".
Brid Stratford was one of two daughters born into a middleclass family in Gweedore. Her father was a Garda sergeant but gave up the job when his wife inherited a pub, now Hudai Beag's, a well-known watering hole in Bunbeg. Ms Rodgers says working in the bar proved a good training ground for political life. "I learned how to deal with men and to be very patient with them. I learned how to take insults and compliments."
Her father died when she was 12. A month later she went to board at St Louis's Convent in Monaghan, progressing to UCD where she secured a BA in Modern Languages. She returned home to teach French and Latin in Falcarragh.
In 1960, she married Antoin Rodgers, another native Irish speaker from Gweedore, eight years her senior. He bought a dental practice in Lurgan, Co Armagh. She gave up her job as women did then to focus on family responsibilities.
Their first baby arrived nine months and two days after the wedding. "Those two days were very important," says Ms Rodgers. "Girls just didn't have babies out of marriage like they do now. I don't' know what I'd have done if the baby had been premature. "
She had heard about anti-Catholic discrimination from Northern students at UCD but didn't believe it was that bad. Living in Lurgan changed her mind. She became involved in the Civil Rights Association, leading the organisation's first demonstration through the town. An orthodontist refused to work with her husband because of "that bitch who led the rebel march".
Ms Rodgers was a reformist, not a revolutionary, and became disillusioned with the movement's infiltration by Marxist groups. After the SDLP's formation in 1970, she wrote to John Hume complaining about the party's inaction on various issues. He sent back a one-line letter - What are you doing about it? She joined up.
Mr Hume has been the inspiration of her political life, though she is not frightened to challenge him. She drew his ire when she said in a previous interview that she was not in awe of him and could handle his moods.
Ms Rodgers has lived in the same fine, redbrick detached house in Lurgan for nearly 40 years. She isn't a big socialiser but likes to play golf - "well I'm too old for camogie." She holidays in Italy every year.
There is, of course, the danger that a further spread of foot-and-mouth could be her downfall. But, at the moment, she is the North's most successful and high-profile Minister. Indeed, the SDLP has parachuted her in to fight West Tyrone in the forthcoming Westminster election. It is a three-way contest between Ms Rodgers, Sinn Fein, and the Ulster Unionists. She is the narrow favourite.